The first USS Indianapolis was a cargo ship that served in the United States Navy from 1918 to 1919. SS Indianapolis was launched on 4 July 1918 by Pusey and Jones, Gloucester, New Jersey, for the United States Shipping Board. She was delivered to the U.S. Department of the Navy on 12 December 1918 and was commissioned into the U.S. Navy as USS Indianapolis the same day at the Philadelphia Navy Yard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Lieutenant Commander J. M. Masury, USNRF, in command.